‘We owe him everything’: horse who loved a crowd and beat Valegro dies aged 24 after happy retirement

The owner of a horse who went from a “delinquent” four-year-old to beating Valegro, winning national titles and starting a dressage dynasty has died aged 24, after a happy retirement.

Vivaldi V (Freddie) was sent to Jo Barry on 14 February 2006 for a month’s schooling, but he never left. He and Jo competed up to prix st georges level, winning seven times at the national championships, not to mention six reserve championships placings, Scottish regional championship titles, three wins at Premier League shows and many more.

“We’ve got so much to thank him for,” Jo told H&H. “Mum and I could never repay the enjoyment and love we shared with him.”

Jo said Freddie’s owner sent him to her as his behaviour was challenging; he was a big, slightly gangly youngster.

“And he had a tendency to bolt!” she said. “He had a wicked sense of humour. But I could feel from the start that he was really quite special; he was a bit like a spider but as he got stronger, he got better balanced and you could see more what might flourish.

“The owner came to see him being ridden and fortunately for me, it was one of those days he took off with me! She decided she didn’t want the responsibility of this delinquent four-year-old so she said he was up for sale.”

Jo said that as luck would have it, Mary Hope, whom she described as her greatest supporter, had said she would like to buy a horse for her to ride.

“Two years had passed; I was looking at horses, and they’d failed vets and everything else, so we really did think this unicorn wasn’t going to happen.” she said. “Then Freddie decided to present himself to us and the rest is history. And of course, even then you wouldn’t get a horse on a trial basis, but I actually had a month’s trial with him – so I knew what I was letting myself in for!”

Jo said there were some slight issues hacking, although not going away from home.

“But heaven help you when you turned back!” she said. “He did have a wicked sense of humour but he was never wicked, never out to get you, he would just stretch the boundaries as far as he could. He always had that tendency but he was always such a genuine-hearted horse.”

Jo and Vivaldi V did some competing in his four-year-old year but he needed to build his strength.

“We did a demonstration with Carl Hester at Gleneagles, and he said ‘This horse will be super but his canter will take time; give him six months and you’ll see a different horse’. Then six months later, he won his first national title, the novice music.

“He was the same age as Valegro, and they competed against each other, vying for first and second places all the way through their five-year-old year. Often it was ‘Blueberry’ first and Freddie second, or the other way round. Freddie actually beat him in the young horse championship that year at Stoneleigh.”

Jo said her highlights include the 2007 nationals, when she and Freddie came second to Valegro in the novice open, won the elementary open and the five-year-old title and then stood overall young horse champions. She also cited the 2010 winter championships, at which he won the elementary and medium freestyles and the medium open championship.

Shoulder to shoulder

“I’d go down the centre line, and it felt that we were shoulder to shoulder,” she said. “He loved an audience; I could be working at home on my own and he’d be ‘Hmm, maybe 80% I’ll do’ and someone would arrive at the stables and he’d be ‘Ok, now it’s worth working’ and he’d up his game. The more people watching, the more he turned it on.

“He was the ultimate competition animal, he loved an audience and he was so, so focused. He absolutely adored the national championships, he lapped it up.

“We both absolutely adored freestyles; his music would come on and he knew his music inside out. He just gave you this wonderful feeling and tried his hardest every time.”

Injury meant Freddie’s career was cut short; although he came back more than once, qualifying for the nationals each time, “unfortunately it wasn’t to be”.

“It was such a crime he couldn’t manage it because he so wanted it; he adored it,” she said. “But we had to [retire] him because he owed us nothing and we owed us everything.”

Vivaldi V leaves a legacy

But as well as dream competition results, Vivaldi V brought his family into Jo’s life; they had kept in touch with his breeders and eventually bought his dam Donnabel. She was pregnant and Jo now has three of Freddie’s half siblings, one of whom has had four foals and Hidalgo II, whom she is now competing at inter I level.

“We’ve got him to thank for so much,” she said. “I’ve got to quite a few national championships because of him, so the legacy continues. It’s lovely to be able to keep that dynasty going, and his nieces – two of them are by Uthopia – are lovely girls who I’ve got huge hopes for, especially coming from a family that loves to do it so much.”

Freddie spent his retirement being the perfect “uncle” to his younger siblings, and Jo said the bond was always evident.

“We weaned our youngsters with him and he very much kept them in check,” she said. “He’d protect me from them; he’d walk in between me and the colt and say ‘No, that’s not happening, you’re not going to be horrible’. That was very touching in that it was a long time since we were partners as far as competing was concerned, but he and I still had a huge rapport.”

In the end it was colic that claimed Vivaldi V, and Jo said he has left a huge hole.

“So many people remember him; it’s been very touching the response we’ve had,” she said. “Blueberry passed away not long ago and they were the two black horses who changed a lot of dressage in their five-year-old year. They were quite something to to watch compete, and Freddie is probably one of the very few horses who beat Valegro; we keep that very close to our hearts.”

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